India warns AI-powered hackers targeting crypto exchanges at ‘machine speed’

India's cybersecurity agency has issued a warning about an AI-assisted hacking campaign targeting cryptocurrency exchanges and financial businesses. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has identified the threat actor as "CRAFTY FALCON." The agency has designated the threat as active and ongoing, with successful attacks reported from nonbank lenders, digital lending platforms, fintech companies, payment aggregators, service providers, and crypto exchanges.

Attackers employ AI tools to survey targets, operate at machine speed, and strike using the victim's own payment and disbursement APIs. They exploit vulnerable applications, shared credentials, and exposed testing environments to move into production systems and cloud infrastructure. AI-assisted tools help attackers create and refine attack scripts and reverse-engineer application code for tailored exploits.

CERT-In advises at-risk companies to enhance security monitoring around the clock, with increased staffing and alert thresholds during low-coverage windows.